Translations of Tibetan Buddhist Texts
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Latest major translation
Added 3 April 2020
by Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa
This short autobiography, composed in verse, covers the main events in the great treasure-revealer’s life from 1829, the year of his birth, until 1865, which was five years before he passed away at the age of 42. A revised version of a translation originally published by Lhasey Lotsawa in The Great Tertön, an anthology of Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa’s terma revelations.
Other recent additions
March–April 2020
A Shower of Blessings: A Guru Yoga Practice to Accompany the Seven Line Prayer (Addendum) | Guru Yoga
arranged by Shakya Shri
This arrangement of Mipham Rinpoche's famous Shower of Blessings Guru Yoga practice adds opening verses of refuge and bodhicitta, a torma offering to the obstructing forces, visualization of the protective sphere and the descent of blessings, as well as concluding verses for the remainder offering, aspiration and dedication. Read text >
Meeting the Buddha Face to Face: A Pith Instruction on Realizing the Fortress, Ravine, and View of the Practice of Vajrakīla | Vajrakīla
by Guru Chökyi Wangchuk
This pith instruction on how to accomplish Vajrakīla (or Vajrakīlaya) was given by Guru Padmasambhava to his closest disciple Khandro Yeshé Tsogyal. Following the Atiyoga approach, the text comments on the oft-quoted verses of the Vajrakīla Root Tantra Fragment (Tōh. 439). This and a short protector offering, also preserved in the Treasury of Revelations (Rinchen Terdzö), are the only two surviving texts from Guru Chöwang’s Vajrakīla revelation. Read text >
All-Pervading Auspiciousness: An Aspiration for the Spread of the Teachings of the Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage | Aspiration Prayers
by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
An aspiration for the spread of the teachings of the so-called Eight Great Chariots of the Practice Lineage (sgrub brgyud shing rta chen po brgyad): Nyingma, Kadam, Sakya, Marpa Kagyü, Shangpa Kagyü, Kālacakra, Pacification and Severance, and Approach and Accomplishment of the Three Vajras. Read text >
Twelve and a Half Crippled Verses | Songs & Poems
by Lama Zhang Tsöndrü Drakpa
Noted for its unusual verse form, this little song (glu chung) by Lama Zhang expresses wonder at encountering the path of Dharma and successfully following it to completion. Read text >
Highlights from archive
Aspiration for the Stages of the Path | Lamrim
by Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa
This very short prayer of aspiration, just seven quatrains long, focuses on accomplishing the stages of the path (lamrim) as a means to benefit all beings. Read text >
A Song of Amazement Inspired by Practice Experience | Meditation
by Sera Khandro
This song of amazement originates in a vision that Sera Khandro had while staying in retreat at Nyimalung in Amdo at the age of twenty-nine. The text is her response to the spirits and demons who appeared to her and asked what she was doing. Read text >
* Lotsāwa ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་; lo tsā ba n. Title used for native Tibetan translators who worked together with Indian scholars (or paṇḍitas) to translate major buddhist texts into Tibetan from Sanskrit and other Asian languages; it is said to derive from lokacakṣu, literally "eyes of the world". See also paṇḍita.
